Issues and Debates

What is universality?

range of psychological characteristics of human beings that can be applied to all of us despite differences in experiences and upbringing so regardless of culture or time
gender bias can reduce this when research is based mainly on one sex and findings then generalised to the other sex

What is gender bias?

tendency to treat or represent men and women differently based on assumptions about gender rather than genuine differences between them - can occur when psychologists exaggerate differences,minimise differences or treat male behaviour as the standard - based on stereotypes + not real differences

What are the four real gender differences?

review of the research on sex differences Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) concluded that there were only four differences between boys and girls, including: girls have greater verbal ability
boys have greater visual and spatial abilities
boys have greater arithmetical ability, a difference that only appears at adolescence
girls are less aggressive than boys

What are the two types of gender bias/consequences of androcentrism?

alpha bias - theories which exaggerate the differences between males and females - often devalues females leading in one gendered presented as superior
beta bias - theories have traditionally ignored or minimised sex differences - often assume that the findings from males can apply equally to females creating assumption same explanation applies to everyone equally

What is an example of alpha bias?

evolutionary approach as suggests that evolutionary processes in the development of the human species explain why men tend to be dominant + why women have a more parental investment in their offspring
however society has changed considerably over recent years + argued that evolutionary perspective shouldn't be used to justify gender differences

What is a second example of alpha bias?

in the psychodynamic approach Freud believed that biological differences between men and women had major consequences for psychological development in view, 'biology is destiny'
in his theory both boys and girls develop a desire for opposite-gender parent during the phallic stage in boys this creates castration anxiety + resolved when boys identify with their fathers but a girls eventual identification with same-gender parent weaker as do not experience castration which means her superego is weaker (as develops as a result of less pressure taking on same-gender parents moral perspective) therefore Freud suggests girls are morally inferior to boys potentially reinforcing negative stereotypes about women

What is an example of beta bias?

in animal research biological research into the fight-or-flight response has often been carried out with male animals as less variation in hormones than females + assumed that is not a problem as the fight-or-flight response would be the same for both
however, later research by Taylor et al. (2000) has challenged view by providing evidence that females produce a tend-and-befriend response due to higher oxytocin - beta-bias in the earlier animal studies meant that for a long time the stress response was not fully understood + a real difference was ignored

What is a second example of beta bias?

evidence in psychological research where male and female participants are used in most studies but normally no attempt to analyse the data to see whether there are significant sex differences (Asch) claims could be less universal than assumed
where differences are found may be possible that these occur because researchers ignore the differential treatment of participants e.g. Rosenthal male experimenters were more pleasant, friendly, honest, +encouraging with female than with male participants led Rosenthal to conclude: "Male and female subjects may, psychologically, simply not be in the same experiment at all."

What are the consequences of beta bias?

result is in psychological research end up with a view of human nature that is supposed to apply to men and women alike, but in fact has a male or androcentric bias
e.g. Asch's conformity studies involved all male participants, as did many of the other conformity studies (e.g., Perrin & Spencer, 1980) + therefore it was assumed that females would respond in the same way

What is androcentrism?

can be a consequence of beta bias - if psychologists minimise gender differences + generalise findings from one sex to the other male behaviours are more likely to be used as the norm for understanding human behaviour means that behaviours or experiences that are more common in females may be overlooked or interpreted as unusual because they do not fit the male norm
affects how behaviour is researched,understood,diagnosed and treated as male behaviour becomes benchmark against which female behaviour is judged

What are the consequences of androcentrism?

diagnosis – females may be less likely to be diagnosed when their symptoms differ from the male-typical presentation eg girls with ADHD may be overlooked when their symptoms are less overt than those seen in boys
treatment – treatments may not fully account for female-specific experiences eg research suggests ADHD stimulant medication may be less effective during parts of the menstrual cycle but has been poorly researched could mean that treatment developed without considering female hormonal changes does not always reflect women's experiences
research – research may focus on male behaviour and then generalise findings to females eg Milgram's original obedience study used an all-male sample yet the findings were generalised to explain obedience more generally
stereotypes – female behaviour may be interpreted differently when it does not fit the male norm eg Brescoll and Uhlman found that men's anger was more likely to be viewed as rational and justified, whereas women's anger was more likely to be attributed to emotional or hormonal factors

Where is gender bias in the research process (institutional sexism)?

although female psychology students outnumber male, at a senior teaching and research level in universities, men dominate. Men predominate at senior researcher level
research agenda follows male concerns, female concerns may be marginalised or ignored
most experimental methodologies are based around standardised treatment of participants - assumes that men and women respond in the same ways to the experimental situation
women and men might respond differently to research situation or might be treated differently by researchers which could create artificial differences or mask real ones
publishing bias towards positive results research that finds gender differences more likely to get published than that which doesn't which could exaggerate extent of gender differences

How can gender bias be reduced in psychology?

equal opportunity legislation and feminist psychology have reduced institutionalised gender bias + drawn attention to sources of bias +under-researched areas in psychology like childcare + sexual abuse - prominence of female researchers like Ainsworth and Loftus have also led to increased acknowledgement of women in the psychological field
by developing a greater understanding of gender bias, psychologists have number of solutions e.g. psychologists attempt to develop theories that emphasise the importance or value of women - Cornwell et al. (2013) noted females are better at learning, as they are more attentive and organised, thus emphasising both the value + positive attributes of women - this type of research helps to reduce or challenge gender stereotypes which is important in reducing gender bias
sometimes the gender bias can work against males as well as females, as sometimes alpha bias theories heighten the value of women e.g. Chodorow viewed women as more relational and caring + women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression and given treatment than males may be because women are more likely to suffer from depression, or it could be that the diagnostic system may be biased towards finding depression among women - expectation for males should be able to 'pull themselves together' is viewed as a masculine trait which may highlight an issue with the psychological diagnostic systems

What is evaluation of alpha bias?

pros - led to some theorists (Gilligan) to assert the worth and valuation 'feminine qualities'
led to healthy criticism of cultural values that praise certain 'male' qualities such as aggression and individualism as desirable, adaptive and universal

cons - Kitzinger (1998) argues that questions about sex differences aren't just scientific questions - they're also political (women have same rights as men) so gender differences distorted to maintain the status quo of male power eg women kept out of male-dominant universities women were oppressed + women stereotypes (Bowlby)
feminists argue that although gender differences are minimal or non-existent used against women to maintain male power so can sustain prejudices + stereotypes
focus on differences between genders leads to the implication of similarity WITHIN genders thus ignores many ways women differ from each other
judgements about an individual women's ability are made on the basis of average differences between the sexes or biased sex-role stereotypes + had the effect of lowering women's self esteem; making them rather than men think they have to improve themselves (Tavris)

What is evaluation of beta bias?

pros - makes people see men and women as the same which has led to equal treatment in legal terms and equal access to eg education + employment
cons - draws attention away from the differences in power between men and women
considered as an egalitarian approach but results in major misrepresentations of both genders

evaluation

What is culture bias?

tendency to judge all people in terms of ones' own cultural assumptions + all behaviour interpreted from 1 cultural view can lead to behaviour from other cultures being misunderstood or judged inaccurately
Smith and Bond (1988) found that 66% of participants in European textbooks of psychology were American, 32% European + 2% rest of the world
western psychologists routinely generalise their findings from societies in small sections of the world onto people as a whole but findings of psychological research conducted in one culture may not apply directly to another
culture defined as the values, beliefs + patterns of behaviour shared by a group of people

Why is this a problem?

psychologists claim to discover fact about about universal human behaviour where behaviour in other cultures that goes against the 'fact' behaviour is viewed as 'atypical' or 'inferior'

What is alpha and beta bias in the context of culture?

alpha - theories that over exaggerate the differences between cultures treating them as real and enduring leading to similarities being overlooked
beta - theories that minimise or ignore cultural differences assuming all people are the same so can universalise theories results in Western theories treated as universal even when behaviour may have different meaning

What is the first example of alpha bias?

psychologists often assumed individualistic cultures are less conformists than collective however Takano and Osaka reviewed studies comparing USA and Japan and found 14 out of 15 did not support expected difference in conformity suggesting cultural difference had been exaggerated
suggest psychologists may develop inaccurate conclusions about cultural differences + reinforce stereotypes about how different cultures behave

What is the second example of alpha bias?

meta-analysis (Van Ijzendoorn) found differences in insecure attachment styles between cultures however secure attachment was the majority attachment type in every culture studied - focusing on the differences between cultures could therefore make cultures appear more different than really are while overlooking important similarity eg secure attachment most common pattern across cultures
suggests psychologists may overestimate the role of culture in attachment and overlook evidence that some aspects of attachment may be universal

What is ethnocentrism?

alpha bias can lead to this where a researcher takes their own culture as the norm and interprets deviations from this as 'abnormal' + leads to can lead to belief in superiority of ones own cultural group e.g. definitions of abnormality vary from culture to culture. Fernando claims that African-Caribbeans in Britain are sometimes diagnosed as 'mentally ill' on the basis of behaviour which is perfectly normal in their subculture + due to the ignorance of African-Caribbean subculture on the part of white psychiatrists

What is an example of ethnocentric research?

Ainsworth's Strange Situation developed to assess attachment type + many researchers assume that the Strange Situation has the same meaning for the infants from other cultures as American children - German children, on average, demonstrate a higher rate of insecure-avoidant behaviour - however not the case that German mothers are more insensitive than American mothers instead value and encourage independent behaviour therefore their children react differently in the Strange Situation + applying American expectations could result in culturally normal behaviour being misinterpreted
Strange Situation has been described as an imposed etic, where a technique or theory is developed in one culture and then imposed on another led to misinterpretation of child-rearing practises in other countries which deviate from the American 'norm'

Who also complete the strange situation?

Takahashi (1990) aimed to see whether the strange situation is a valid procedure for cultures other than the original Takashi found no children in the avoidant-insecure stage, explained in cultural terms as Japanese children are taught that such behaviour is impolite + would be actively discouraged from displaying it + Japanese children experience much less separation, the SS was more than mildly stressful

What is the first example of beta bias?

IQ tests often been developed using Western ideas about intelligence + then applied to people from other cultures - Western cultures may place greater emphasis on individual intellectual ability whereas collectivist cultures may place greater value on using knowledge within the wider community can mean that important cultural differences in how intelligence is understood are overlooked
people from other cultures may be unfairly judged as less intelligent because test does not reflect their cultural understanding of intelligence - could affect educational opportunities

What is the second example of beta bias?

Western diagnostic approaches overlook cultural differences in meaning of unusual experiences eg hearing voices may be interpreted as a symptom of schizophrenia in Western cultures whereas in some cultures hearing the voice of a deceased relative may be considered a normal or meaningful experience
people may be incorrectly diagnosed with schizophrenia when their experiences are culturally normal potentially resulting in inappropriate treatment + stigma

What is cultural relativism?

suggests that behaviours + concepts can only be understood correctly from within the cultural context it occurs therefore studies which draws its sample from only one cultural context (like American college students) and then generalises its findings to all people everywhere is suspect

How can cultural relativism be applied?

when investigating attachment researchers should consider local parenting practices + cultural expectations before interpreting behaviours as secure or insecure
could involve working with researchers who understand the culture adapting procedures where necessary and avoiding assumptions that behaviours have the same meaning in every culture
helps ensure that findings reflect genuine psychological differences rather than cultural differences in behaviour being misinterpreted

What is an etic approach?

behaviour that is thought to be universal across all cultural groups (i.e.: smiling when happy) + looks for similarities where looks at behaviour outside a given culture and attempts to describe that behaviour as universal
can help identify behaviours that are genuinely universal but can create imposed etic if a theory or measure developed in one culture is applied to another without considering cultural differences

What is an emic approach?

behaviour that only applies to certain cultural groups where studies behaviour from within a particular culture focusing on unique beliefs and experiences of that cultural group
can reduce cultural bias by ensuring that behaviour is understood within its cultural context rather than judged using the standards of another culture

What is an example of imposed etic?

Ainsworth + Bell studied behaviour in one culture (USA) and assumed ideal attachment type and assessment method could be applied universally + how we define mental health is another example
Berry argued psychology often used imposed etic approaches arguing theories are universal when research was emic inside a single culture where should be more mindful of cultural relativism + discoveries may only make sense in one culture this being recognised can reduce cultural bias in research

How can we remove cultural bias?

indigenous psychology (emic approach) - theories made explicitly on particular experience of people in different cultural contexts can produce explanations that are more culturally appropriate + avoid imposing Western assumptions on other cultures
sample on global scale - avoids problem of misrepresentation
awareness of consequences - psychologists more open-minded and well-travelled than previously and have increased understanding of other cultures
equal opportunity legislation - aims to rid psychology of cultural bias + racism but must be cautious of merely swapping old,overt racism for new,more subtle forms of racism (Howitt and Owusu-Bempah)

What etic approach could reduce cultural bias?

one way to achieve universality would be to employ what Berry described as a derived etic
where a series of emic studies take place in local settings, conducted by local researchers using local techniques - such studies can build up a picture of human behaviour in a similar way to the ethnographic approach taken by anthropologists - the study of different cultures through the use of comparisons as by making comparisons between cultures we can learn more about a target culture

Evaluation

What is free will?

we are self-determining all have a conscious choice to control + choose our own behaviour doesn't deny may be biological and environmental forces that have some influence but able to reject these forces

What are example approaches that support free will?

plays a central role in Humanist Psychology arguing that people have the ability to make choices + take responsibility for own behaviour - Rogers argued that taking personal responsibility is important for personal growth and self-actualisation reflects humanistic view that people are capable of making positive choices and developing their potential
lesser degree Cognitive Psychology also supports idea in reality although we do have free will it is constrained by our circumstances and other people e.g. shopping choices are constrained by how much money you have

What is determinism?

belief that behaviour is caused by internal or external factors that are beyond our conscious control and thus predictable - most approaches are deterministic some see the source of this determinism as being outside the individual external e.g. behaviourism
others see it from coming internally i.e. in the form of unconscious motivation or genes such as the biological approach

What are the two versions of determinism?

hard determinism - all behaviour is determined by internal or external causes so individuals have no genuine control over their behaviour eg - Behaviourism argues that behaviour is shaped by conditioning + reinforcement while Biological approach emphasises genes,hormones and neurotransmitters as causes of behaviour - compatible with aims of science
soft determinism - represents a middle ground do have a choice but choice is constrained by external factors e.g. poverty doesn't make you steal, but may make you more likely to take that route through desperation - feature of cognitive approach suggests that behaviour is influenced by how people process information but individuals can still make choices based on their thoughts and reasoning so may be predictable behaviour but is not inevitable

What is the example of external determinism?

environmental determinism - idea that our behaviour caused by previous experiences and learning from the environment mainly through classic and operant conditioning e.g. parental influence or through conditioning - Skinner argued that freedom is an illusion - may think we have free will but the probability of any behaviour occurring is determined by past experiences because we not aware of how our behaviour is determined by reinforcement - an example is learning theory of attachment or Watson and Rayner demonstrated fear responses could be conditioned

What is the first example of internal determinism?

biological determinism - behaviour caused by biological factors such as genes,hormones,neurotransmitters and brain structures - may influence our mental health - influence of autonomic nervous system during stress where all human behaviour is innate and determined by genes or OCD

What is the second example of external determinism?

psychic determinism - behaviour caused by unconscious psychological forces including innate drives and experiences during childhood
Freud believed childhood experiences and unconscious motivations such as innate drives such as Id governed behaviour - psychosexual theory suggests unresolved conflicts during childhood can lead to fixation which may influence adult personality eg fixation at the anal stage was proposed to produce an anal personality

What is the scientific emphasis on causal explantions?

basic principle of science is every event in universe has a cause which can be explained by general laws (hard determinism) - knowledge of causes + formulation of laws are important as allows scientists to predict and control events in the future
identify causes of behaviour so that psychologists can understand predict and potentially change behaviour eg if research shows that learning experiences contribute to the development of a phobia, psychologists can use this knowledge to understand how the phobia developed and develop treatments to reduce it
in psychology laboratory experiments are the ideal of science as enables researchers to demonstrate causal relationships where can use controlled experiments to manipulate one factor and measure its effect on behaviour, allowing them to investigate cause-and-effect relationships - if the same findings can be replicated here is greater confidence that the relationship is genuine rather than the result of chance or other factors

Evaluation (may write out some of the brief points on the flashcards)

What is the nature-nurture debate?

extent to which our behaviour is determined by our biology (nature) e.g. genes we inherit from our parents versus the influence of environmental factors (nurture) such as home school and friends
debate focuses on the relative importance of nature and nurture although most psychologists now recognise that the two interact to influence behaviour

What is the nature side of the debate?

view that all our behaviour is determined by our biology,our genes+ some genetic characteristics only appear later in development as a result of the process of maturation
behaviour innately determined which is naturally present from birth and not learned

What is the first example of the influence of nature?

genetic explanations - genetic basis of OCD (COMT and SERT) - candidate genes for schizophrenia + concordance rates (48% for MZ twins)
Joseph used twin studies and found higher concordance rates for schizophrenia in MZ twins (40%) than DZ twins (7%) - suggests that genetic factors contribute to the development of schizophrenia however MZ twins do not show 100% concordance, suggesting that environmental factors also play a role

What is the second example of the influence of nature?

evolutionary explanations - main assumption underlying this approach is that any particular behaviour has evolved because of its survival value
e.g. Bowlby suggested that attachment behaviours are displayed because they ensure the survival of an infant and the continuation of the parents' genes are innate and adaptive - behaviours such as social releasers encourage caregiver to provide protection survival value is further increased because attachment has implications for later relationship formation which will ultimately promote successful reproduction

What is the nurture side of the debate?

opposite view that all behaviour is learnt and influenced by external factors such as the environment and experiences such as learning and relationships etc
supports of the nurture view are 'empiricists' holding the view that all knowledge is gained through experience where born blank slates without knowledge which is learned from experiences shaped by up brining and culture etc

what is the first example of the influence of nurture?

behaviourist approach assumes that all behaviour is learned through the environment - conditioning explaining phobias + example is the social learning explanation of aggression, using the Bobo doll
SLT proposes that much of what we learn is through observation and vicarious reinforcement e.g., Bandura demonstrated this in his Bobo doll experiments found that children who watched an adult role model being rewarded for aggression towards an inflatable doll, tended to imitate that behaviour supports the idea that personality is determined by nurture rather than nature - provides us with a model of how to behave

What is the second example of the influence of nurture?

double bind hypothesis which explains schizophrenia suggest that schizophrenia develops because children receive contradictory messages from their parents

How can you measure nature and nurture?

degree 2 people similar on a trait can be represented by a correlation coefficient called concordance which can estimate extent to which a trait is inherited called heritability where figure between 0 genes contribute nothing and 1 genes are only reason for difference

What is the interactionist approach?

any behaviour arises from combination of both e.g. Bowlby attachment type determined by parental love whereas Kagan proposes babies innate personality affects attachment means nature is likely to influence nurture so heredity and environment interact
therefore debate is more about how they interact neither factor alon necessarily sufficient to explain behaviour

What is the diathesis-stress model?

suggests behaviour caused by biological vulnerability which is only expressed when coupled with a stressor - therefore a person may have a biological vulnerability without developing a disorder unless environmental factors also contribute (interactionist)
e.g. in OCD may inherit genetic vulnerability such as variants of the SERT gene but may not develop disorder but combined with psychological stressor such as an accident or loss in the family where if they already have a genetic vulnerability to OCD these environmental experiences may contribute to the development of the disorder demonstrates how inherited biological factors and environmental experiences can interact to influence behaviour

What are epigenetics?

change in genetic activity without changing the genes itself which occurs due to interactions with the environment where aspects of our lifestyle e.g. smoking or trauma leave marks on DNA switching genes off or on
these changes may go on and influence genes of future children and their children adding a third element to debate the life experience of previous generations

What is holism?

argues that behaviour cannot be understood in terms of the components that make them up
psychologists study the whole person to gain an understanding of all the factors that might influence behaviour using several levels of explanation including biological, environment and social factors
human behaviour is complex + cannot predict how whole system will behave from knowledge of individual components where would argue reductionist explanations only have limited part in understanding behaviour

What are examples of holism?

holistic approaches include Humanism, Social and Gestalt psychology + makes use of the case study method
Jahoda's 6 elements of Optimal Living are an example of a holistic approach to defining abnormality
holistic explanation depression might consider how biological,psychological and social factors interact, rather than focusing on just one cause

How is the humanistic approach holistic?

it considers the whole person, including their experiences,relationships,self-concept + personal growth eg Rogers' person-centred approach considers how a person's experiences and self-concept influence their psychological development rather than reducing behaviour to biological or environmental causes

What is reductionism?

belief that human behaviour can be explained by breaking it down into smaller component parts - best way to understand why we behave as we do is to look closely at the very simplest parts that make up our systems + use the simplest explanations to understand how they work

What is reductionism based on?

parsimony where all phenomena should be explained using the simplest principles

What are some examples of reductionism?

applied to biological explanations (e.g. genetics, neurotransmitters, hormones) of complex human behaviours such as schizophrenia, gender and aggression but explanations can be legitimately criticised as ignoring psychological,social and cultural factors
cognitive psychology with its use of the computer analogy reduces behaviour to the level of a machine
behaviourist psychology sees behaviour in terms of simple stimulus/response relationships
psychodynamic perspective reduces behaviour to unconscious motivation and early childhood experiences

What are the levels of explanations?

different ways to explain behaviour - levels become more reductionist as move down the order:
sociology - psychology - biology - chemistry - physics

What is an example of the level of explanations?

socio-cultural level eg OCD interrupts family relationships
psycholoigcal level experience of having obsessive thoughts
physiological (biological) as hypersensitivity of the Basal Ganglia
Neurochemical level as underproduction of serotonin